I asked about this a few years ago in this list (I think). Jared Spool came
up with an example from the Mayo Clinic Web site that had definitions of
terms on the right side of a page. It's not there anymore, though. I did a
prototype of the product I was then developing using something like that
and it tested well in a quick HTML mockup. I think we had terms in bold and
the definitions on the right side.
ToolTip-type help (ALT or TITLE text) is nice, but I've seen too many
people who never actually let the pointer rest in one place long enough to
engage it. And there's the idea that ALT text isn't really supposed to be
used that way (recent discussion here).
-- hs
At 12:34 AM 1/10/02 -0600, Lyle Kantrovich wrote:
>I'm working on a web site that classifies different things using
>terminology that will need to be explained to new users. For examples,
>a thing's "status" might be "recommended", "guideline", "standard",
>etc. When I say "classifies", I'm not talking about categorization
>from a taxonomy standpoint, but simple text on a page like as in:
>
>Animal: Cat
>Type: Mammal
>
>We think that a glossary would help explain terms (e.g. possible
>statuses) for the user, but we're not sure how to provide that
>information without cluttering up the interface for experienced users.
>
>Options we've considered:
>1. We could link the term to a glossary page, but the user wouldn't
>know which links are gloss links and which are regular content links.
>2. Put an icon or question mark after terms that have a glossary entry,
>but that might clutter up the interface with a bunch of icons or terms
>that end up looking like questions. [?] <==example to show what I mean.
>3. Have a separate glossary page just linked in the navigation
>somewhere.
>
>
>Questions:
>A. What other ways have people seen for providing this type of term
>definition or contextual help?
>B. Have any examples of sites that do this well?
>
>
>I searched the CHI-WEB archives, but didn't find anything really
>current, and no working examples.
>
>Thanks in advance for any help.
>
>Regards,
>
>Lyle Kantrovich
>User Experience Architect
>Cargill
>http://www.cargill.com/
>
>Personal Web Log:
>http://crocolyle.blogspot.com/
>Commentary on usability, information architecture and web design.
>
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Design & strategy for the Web
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